most of the next day the american red cross girls devoted to seeing london. they had visited the tower and westminster abbey and the houses of parliament soon after their arrival. so, as the sun was shining with unusual vigor for london, they concluded to spend the greater part of their final time out of doors.
london in late may or early june is a city transformed. during the winter she is gray and cold and formidable, so that the ordinary american traveler often finds himself antagonistic and depressed. then the englishman appears as cold and unfriendly as his skies. but let the sun shine and the flowers bloom in the parks and the spirit of the city and its people changes.
naturally, on account of the shadow of the war, the red cross girls had anticipated[125] an atmosphere of sorrow and gloom over london. but to their utter amazement on the surface of things there was no such effect. there were, of course, many families in grief over the passing of one of their dearest, or in even more tragic anxiety over the fate of others either at the front or prisoners of war. but whatever the private suffering, there was slight sign of it. no one was wearing mourning, the theaters and restaurants seemed to be doing a good business and the streets and parks were everywhere crowded.
except that the flags of the allied nations waved from nearly every public building and large shop, and that the taxicabs carried placards urging men to enlist, there was little to suggest a nation at war.
yes, there was one other curious sight which barbara from the top of an omnibus discovered. over the roofs of the important government buildings and above many of the great private houses hung a kind of flat screen of heavy wire netting, closely woven. from a distance it formed a cobweb effect, as though gigantic spiders had[126] been spreading their great webs over london.
“i wonder what that means?” asked barbara, pointing upward, and then knew the answer, although she listened politely while mildred explained.
“oh, the wire is to prevent bombs from dropping down on the house tops when london has her great zeppelin raid. father began telling me that london must expect them to occur as soon as the war broke out.”
nona, who had been looking pensive, now leaned over from the back seat where she was sitting with eugenia.
“i am not wishing any harm to london; i adore it. but if the germans are going to send their marvelous army of the air to bombard the city, don’t you wish it would happen while we are here?”
barbara laughed, mildred shook her head and eugenia said seriously:
“nona, you don’t look in the least like a bloodthirsty person. i can’t understand you, child. you talk as if you had no sense of fear and i have not been able to[127] make up my mind whether it is because you know nothing of danger or whether you are different from most women. but remember that we are going to our work tomorrow, and i don’t think there will be many of the horrors of this war that we shall miss seeing. i am afraid i am a coward, for i dread a great part of them. but isn’t that the hospital we are looking for? at least, it will be a tremendous inspiration to meet the woman who has done more for nursing among the british soldiers than any other woman in this war. dr. garrett anderson established the first woman’s hospital at claridge’s hotel in paris a month after the war broke out, together with dr. flora murray. and the women have done such wonderful surgical work that all the country is talking about them.”
barbara whistled softly. “so they brought this dr. anderson back to london and made her a major, the first woman ever given military rank in the british army!” she exclaimed. “when one considers the englishman believes ‘a woman’s place is the home,’ it is hard to tell how he is[128] going to reconcile what women are doing to help in this war, men’s work as well as their own. but i’ll bet you the english won’t give the women the vote when the war is over, just the same. they can go back home then, although a good many of the poor things won’t have any homes to go to.”
eugenia revealed an annoyed frown. she was doing her best to find good in barbara meade, her new england conscience assured her there must be good in everybody. but so far barbara’s trying qualities were much more conspicuous.
“i do wish that you would not use slang, barbara,” she urged almost plaintively. “it may be all right in the west, but really it will give english people such an unfortunate impression of us.”
barbara flushed. of course she must break herself of this habit; nevertheless, she would like to have mentioned that she had heard a good deal of slang since arriving in england and although unlike the american kind, equally amusing. however, as it was now time to dismount from the top[129] of their bus, this required all her energy and intelligence.
the meeting with dr. louise garrett anderson was necessarily brief, the distinguished woman happening to have a single free hour had consented to meet the new nurses and wish them god-speed. but the visit to the hospital was also important, because the american red cross girls were to have tea with the other nurses who were to accompany them across the channel the next morning.
the new hospital just back of the british trenches at neuve chapelle had sent a hurried call to london for more assistance and the four american girls and four british girls were to make the journey immediately.
crossing the hall to the dining room, barbara just had time to whisper to mildred:
“i have a dreadful premonition that i am not going to be popular with english nurses. when you consider how ‘new england’ feels toward me, what can you expect of england?” and barbara made[130] a wry face behind eugenia’s back, wishing for the nine hundred and ninety-ninth time in her life that she only looked larger and older and more important.
the meeting of the girls was not very successful. it may be that they were all shy and that they really wished to be friendly without knowing how to approach each other. but this certainly did not appear to be true. for after they were properly introduced by the superintendent of the hospital, the english girls nodded, said “how do you do?” and then sat down again and continued talking to one another, as if the americans had vanished as soon as their names were spoken.
it was embarrassing. barbara was angry; nevertheless, her sense of humor made her feel an inclination to giggle. mildred thornton seemed distressed and awkward; one could tell from her expression that she was once more feeling her old lack of social graces. she was under the impression that it must be her duty to make things more comfortable without in the least knowing how. eugenia was simply returning a[131] new england manner to the land whence it came, while nona davis was frankly puzzled by the situation.
all her life she had been taught that one’s first duty was to make a stranger feel welcome in one’s own land. the well-bred southern man or woman will straightway cease to talk of his own affairs to become interested in a newcomer’s. they wish to make the stranger happy and at home and in the center of things. but this did not seem to be true of this particular party of english girls. nona wondered why they should be so unlike the other english people they had been meeting. perhaps they were rude because they belonged to a class of society that knew no better. you see, nona’s feeling for “family” was very strong. she was to learn better in the days to follow, learn that it is the man or woman who counts, and not who his grandmother or grandfather chanced to be; but the lesson was still before her.
she was now studying the four other girls, too interested to be annoyed by their manners, and yet conscious of the antagonism that they seemed to feel.
[132]
however, the four english girls were not in the least alike, which was one reason for their attitude. two of them appeared in awe of the third, while the fourth girl silently watched the others. the most important girl was extremely tall, had fair hair, a large nose and a lovely english complexion. she was the honorable dorothy mathers. the second was the daughter of a farmer, healthy and in a way handsome. if strength alone counted she would be the best of the nurses. her name was mary brinton and she spoke with a broad yorkshire dialect, but hardly said anything except “my lady this, and my lady that” and was evidently not accustomed to titled society. the third girl was from london, a doctor’s daughter and a friend of lady dorothy’s, daisy redmond, while the fourth, whose name was alexina mcintyre, had given no clue to her history.
however, she it was who finally forced the group of eight girls to betray a mild human interest in one another.
she had reddish hair, freckles on her nose, wore glasses, had a delightful mouth, large, with fine white teeth.
[133]
she happened to be gazing directly at barbara when she first spoke, but her voice was uncommonly loud, so that it forced everybody’s attention.
“please, you little wee thing,” she said, “tell us whatever made you come over the ocean to help with our war nursing? did you think we hadn’t enough nurses of our own, that we needed babies like you?”
barbara stiffened. she had half an idea of declaring that she for one intended going back home at once. then to her relief she discovered that her questioner had not intended being unkind. there was a sudden twinkle in her light-blue eyes, as if she had become aware of the discomfort in the atmosphere and wished to relieve it by a frivolous speech.
“i’m scotch,” she added with a charming burr in her accent. “i said that to wake you up.”
then barbara smiled back again and afterwards sighed, “oh, i am used to having that remark made to me.” she looked steadfastly across the space of carpet dividing the eight girls. “the sheep[134] from the goats,” she thought to herself. aloud she merely said:
“i hope with all my heart that in spite of my being so small you are going to find me, and indeed all of us, useful. if you don’t, you know, we can go back. but we used to have a saying in our hospital, out in nebraska, that sometimes brains succeed best in nursing as in other things, rather than brawn.”
only the scotch woman understood her meaning. however, the ice being broken, afterwards there was an attempt at conversation, until finally in desperation eugenia gave the signal for farewells.
“we shall meet again in the morning,” she said at parting, but showing no enthusiasm at the prospect.
“i am sorry,” mildred thornton remarked, once the four girls were back again in their lodgings, “but i am afraid for some reason the girls we have just met feel a prejudice against our nursing in the same hospital with them. i wonder what they could have heard against us? everyone else has been so grateful and kind. i[135] hope they won’t make the work harder for us. all of us except eugenia are inexperienced.”
eugenia nodded her head in agreement. “i am afraid the girl they called lady dorothy did not seem to favor us. it is a pity, because she is related to a great many important people, i’m told. but never mind, even if she does dislike us, she can’t interfere with our doing good work.”
curled up on the bed, barbara yawned. “oh, don’t let us look for trouble. one of the things we have got to expect is that some of the english nurses won’t like our american ways or our methods of nursing. we have just to remember that we came over here to preach the gospel of peace, not war, and not dislike anyone. well, our real life work begins tomorrow. then we will see what stuff we are made of. i am glad our hospital is partly supported by american money and that mrs. payne of new york is sometimes in charge of things. i haven’t yet become an anglomaniac; so far i only love the soldiers.”
the next morning the trip to the coast[136] followed, and thence across the channel the way was strangely uneventful. except that the four american girls now wore their red cross costumes, they might have been taken for four girls on a spring shopping journey to paris. the channel boats were crossing and recrossing from england to france and back again just as if they had no enemies in the world.
however, the men guiding the destinies of the little steamers were under no such impression. every foot of the way was traveled with infinite caution. for at any moment disaster might overtake them from the sea or air. but there was no german bomb to destroy the shimmering gold of the atmosphere this may morning, nor dangers in the pathway through the sea. moreover, from tall towers along both coasts farseeing eyes were watching and protecting the passage of the channel boats. this morning some of them were carrying passengers across, others khaki-clad soldiers to relieve their wounded comrades.
one surprise, however, awaited the american girls. quite unexpectedly they discovered[137] that mrs. curtis and her son were also crossing the channel to france on their boat. and mrs. curtis reported that lady dorian had been taken to the tower in london where she was being held as a political spy.
